The Desk - a long story!

I finally finished painting my husband's desk! This desk has been with us since we were first married around 21 years ago. It was our first trash rescue as a couple. It was being thrown out and was across the street on the kerbside looking sad and lonely. We waited until it was dark, and tiptoed with it it across the road to our first apartment.

It had been painted in thick white gloss - badly painted - so I stripped it down and painted it with an acrylic satin paint in ivory. I painted a decorative teal line on the side drawers and the top - like a rectangle with a curved indented corner. It was very Laura Ashley. I wish I could find a photo of the Laura Ashley furniture that I was trying to emulate. We used it in our large dining room as a sideboard/buffet table, and it was very useful.

The next house we moved to, we sadly didn't have room for it, so I gave it to a friend who did. After a number of years we had both moved house again, and this time, she didn't have the room for it and I did, so I asked for it back - I'm cheeky that way! This time it became Naomi's desk. After a number of years it started to look a bit worse for wear. The acrylic paint is never quite as hard wearing as oil based paint, so I stripped it back down again and sanded it ready for a repaint. The desk then came with us when we went off to Belize in Central America for a couple of years. It never did get it's re-paint. I used it as a sewing desk and Naomi still used it as a desk too. It had quite a bit of glue stuck to it, and a number of scribbles in fibre tip pen where she missed the paper. When we came back to the UK, it became my husband's desk, and he has never complained about the unfinished scribbly state it was in. It remained in this sorry state and only now have I finally finished it! I used an oil based paint this time. A Crown satin paint in an off white. I'm not planning on re-painting it again - like ever!

I have changed the handles from drop ones, which were quite pretty, to these drawer pulls. ..I have a bit of a thing for these kind of drawer pulls, plus I love how they echo the shape of the shell on the middle drawer

I bought them about 11 years ago. I think if I could do it again, I would have bought silver handles, but otherwise, I am very pleased. Now the hard part. Getting the desktop to remain tidy

I have a cunning plan. The in-tray has been done away with - it had became a dumping ground for any bits of paper lying around. I have tidied out the drawers and now the top right hand drawer has become the in-tray. I also need to make some kind of desk pad to protect the top surface. As you can probably see we are still carpetless, but this is the last room on my list, so I better get on with all my jobs! Hmm, now for a desk pad.

Thanks for dropping by!